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50 godina diplomatskih odnosa između Njemačke i Izraela

Povodom 50. obljetnice uspostave diplomatskih odnosa između Njemačke i Izraela, Zaklada Konrad Adenauer (KAS) je 20. svibnja 2015. godine u Zagrebu zajedno s izraelskim veleposlanstvom organizirala raspravu o trenutačnom stanju njemačko-izraelskih odnosa i njihovom značaju za Hrvatsku, kao novu članicu EU-a u nazočnosti izraelske veleposlanice, gđe Zinae Kleitmann i izaslanika njemačkog veleposlanstva, g. Valentina Geschera.

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Opening Remarks

Your Excellency, Ambassador Kleitman, Honourable Members of Parliament, Distinguished Friends of Germany and Israel,

thank you your Excellency for your readiness - as the representative of the State of Israel in Croatia - to celebrate 50 years of Israeli-German diplomatic Relations with us and thanks to all of you for accepting our invitation to join us at this commemorative event.

As Germans we –last year- celebrated “25 anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall” and shall - this year– celebrate 25 years of German Unification.

But earlier this year, we also commemorated the “Liberation of the concentration camps” by allied forces and in May this year, the “Liberation of Germany from the Nazi-regime” 70 years ago.. On the 12th of May we also celebrate “50 years of Diplomatic Relations between Israel and Germany”. For you - Croatians - that may not be a particularly notable occasion, but for us - Germans Israelis and Jews - all those commemorations mean a lot. Therefore I and many of my colleagues in the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung all over the world feel a desire to honor the achievements of Konrad-Adenauer and David Ben Gurion in building those bridges between our two countries.

Has there ever been a more impossible relationship between two countries?

At the beginning it was not at all clear, that there could ever be a formal relationship between the Jewish state and the nation, which had attempted to eradicate all Jewish life. At the beginning there was so much pain and suffering. And let us not get this wrong, there still is today.

Let us never forget, that there have been two prerequisites for this unprecedented success story to unfold:

firstly, the fact that Israel was willing to reach out a hand of reconciliation to Germany, the home of the perpetrators, and

secondly, that Germany faced up to its responsibility for the crimes of the Holocaust and also took on responsibility for the existence and security of the State of Israel.

Eventually, the vast majority of Germans recognized their responsibility for the crimes perpetrated “in their name” and Germany -ever since- does what it can, to make Israel a state, where Jews finally are able to live in peace and security.

Fifty years after the hesitant beginnings, Germany and Israel have become close partners and the fact that thousands of young Israelis have moved to Berlin, is proof of the fact that these close ties between Israel and Germany are more than a project of elites. My colleagues and I often feel being kind of “ambassadors”, when it comes to German-Israeli and German-Jewish relations, because from the very beginning, we have felt very much committed to strengthening reconciliation between our two peoples. The Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation has therefore started a great number of projects and activities to strengthen German-Israeli and German-Jewish Relations and I have allowed myself to put together some reports and studies on German-Israeli relations in this folder, that I wish to hand over to you, Your Excellency, on this occasion today.

You find in this folder a very recent report looking back on “50 years of German-Israeli Diplomatic Relations” including among others statements by the current Israeli Ambassador to Germany and the President of the German Bundestag. Let me end by mentioning, that I myself have served

- German-Israeli Relations as representative of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Israel, residing in Jerusalem between 1989 and 1994 as well as

- German-Jewish Relations as desk officer, responsible for the Adenauer Exchange Program with the American Jewish Committee (AJC), where we organize annual visits of young AJC leaders to Germany to experience life in “United Germany” and visits of young CDU politicians to the United States to learn more about the life of the Jewish community there.

Ever since, I always try to create opportunities for Israelis, Germans and Jews to meet in the spirit of a great German Jew, Martin Buber, who once famously stated that: “All real living is meeting.”

So let me call a toast on 50 Years of German-Israeli diplomatic relations, let us meet in the spirit of Martin Buber and let us enjoy the company of people, who are -if not concerned- at least very interested in the fate of German-Israeli Relations!

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